The Best Ways To Keep Your Hummingbird Feeder From Freezing As Temperatures Drop

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

The sight and sound of hummingbirds in your yard is a clear sign that summer has arrived. Their merry chirp and eye-catching plumage are synonymous with long, lazy days and sultry evenings. When the first frosts arrive — and the skies darken and the temperature drops — many of these colorful little creatures migrate to the warmer climes of Central America or Mexico. Their tendency to move on to warmer pastures is the reason why many people stop putting out their hummer feeders during winter. However, some species, such as Anna's hummingbird, which is commonly found in the Pacific Northwest, tend to stick around and can be frequently spotted in northern backyards during the winter months. This is why it's crucial to not only keep your feeder stocked up, but also prevent it from freezing as the frost and ice creep in.

Since the turn of the century, birds like Anna's hummingbirds have made it their business to adapt to colder climates. They make their homes in dense shrubbery, and when night falls, their heart rate drops significantly as they enter a state of temporary hibernation. When dawn arrives, they're full of beans once more and eager to eat. Although they have learned to live off a diet of insects and the sap found in woodpecker holes, they still rely heavily upon the nectar found in backyard feeders. If your feeder freezes over, their food source dries up significantly. Here are some handy measures you can put in place to stop this happening and keep your hummers happy and healthy until the summer.

Sugar often gets a bad rap, but it still has its uses, and one of them is to stop your hummingbird nectar from freezing. Hummingbirds have a very pronounced sweet tooth. They crave the sugars found in floral nectars because they have very fast metabolisms and need a lot of the sweet stuff to keep them well-fueled and flying fit. They'll have no objections to you making their nectar a little sweeter by adding some extra sugar to their nectar to stop it freezing. Because of its sugar content, hummingbird nectar is less likely to freeze than plain water, which reaches a freezing point at about 27 degrees. That's because the sugar molecules replace some of the water ones, making the process take longer. However, please note that this hack should only be used by people who live in regions where temperatures at night are just slightly below freezing. The increased sugar content alone won't stop the water from freezing into a block of ice if it dips into single digits. 

When making your own hummingbird nectar, the standard ratio is 4 parts water with 1 part sugar. However, during the winter, you can reduce the ratio to 3 parts water and 1 part sugar to give them more energy during a difficult season and keep the water from freezing. Only do this during the winter since consuming more than the recommended amount of sugar during spring and summer can hurt the birds. Also, please remember only to use white sugar when making homemade nectar for the hummers. Brown sugar, honey, caster sugar, and all other sweeteners are unsafe.

Sometimes the simplest hacks are the most effective, and if your hummingbird nectar is in danger of freezing, then simply replace one feeder with another. It's the classic trick that bird lovers have been using for generations. It's reliable, and it works! You simply put a feeder out first thing in the morning and exchange it with a fresh one midday before swapping it with another mid-afternoon and bringing it in at night. It's then simply a case of rinse and repeat until Jack Frost and his legions make way for the arrival of spring.

Be warned, though — although this method works, it requires a big commitment on your behalf. Firstly, you have to be an early riser who's up with the birds to ensure that there is nectar available for the hummers first thing. Remember, if they come to rely on the food you supply, you cannot let them down. Without easy-to-find sustenance during the bitter cold, they can easily die from starvation and malnutrition, and they awake from their nightly hibernation just before the sun comes out. Secondly, you or someone else needs to be there midday and late afternoon for the changeover. It's time-consuming but rewarding if you have an abiding love for our feathered friends and their welfare. Whether you decide to rotate your feeders or not, bringing them in overnight is always a sensible idea. If your house is adequately heated, any nectar will melt and thaw overnight, ready for hanging back in the garden the following day.

Although, as we have seen, an old sock is handy for protecting your hummingbird feeder from the elements, there are other, even more innovative and creative ways to protect the nectar inside from freezing. The foam pipe insulation you can find at most hardware stores is flexible enough to attach to most feeders. Since it's used to insulate pipes in areas of the home that get little heat and are in danger of bursting — like basements — it can help keep the nectar from reaching its freezing point during the day. Simply measure how much you need to cover the feeder, cut it to size, wrap it around the tube, and secure it in place with zip ties or rubber bands. Tape is not recommended because it doesn't allow for easy access when it's time to clean and restock the feeders.

However, just like with the sock hack, this is best used for feeders in regions where the temperatures don't dip below freezing at night. Insulation alone likely won't be able to keep the water from freezing. Instead, you will need a constant heat source — like a warm lamp — to keep the nectar thawed throughout the night when temps are in single digits.

Using a window feeder for hummers during the winter is a double whammy. Their color and charm will help brighten up your view during the bleak and barren months and the heat from your home will help keep the nectar liquidated. Sweet Feeders' geometric window hummingbird feeder is a great example of one — the nectar is held in viles and is easy to apply to any window by simply attaching it via the built-in suction cups. Attaching the feeder to a window works a lot better if it's a single pane. Yet even if it's double glazing, it should help conduct enough of the heat generated from your central heating, fireplace, or cooker to prevent the nectar from freezing. 

However, the usefulness of this hack depends on how cold it is outside. The residual heat from the house will keep the nectar warmer by a few degrees, but it won't be enough to keep the water from freezing once the weather hits single digits. Also, remember that there is a risk of an enthusiastic hummer flying straight into your window, so ensure you put up plenty of decals to warn them it's a dead end.